Dateline Indianapolis – September 7, 2016
As Jim Harbaugh prepares for his first game as the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, it’s fair to take a moment and consider how he got here. Only 11 months ago, Harbaugh was riding high midway through his inaugural year as the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines. Having taken over a program rich with tradition but woefully lacking in on-the-field success, Harbaugh was hailed as a messianic figure long before his team took the field. After looking fairly pedestrian in an opening week loss to eventual playoff-participant Utah, Michigan rolled to five straight victories behind a stifling run defense and improving power run game.
So suffocating was Michigan’s defense at the time, that the Wolverines carried a streak of three consecutive shutouts into their week seven home matchup with in-state rival Michigan State. What had been a media obsession turned into a feeding frenzy. Euphoric Michigan fans declared that order had been restored. Both Vegas oddsmakers and talking heads predicted a comfortable Michigan victory. All that was left was to play the game.
Then they played the game. Or rather, Michigan State played the game, anyway. Michigan State won the toss and deferred. On Michigan’s first play from scrimmage, MSU’s Shilique Calhoun (an eventual first-round pick of the New York Jets in this April’s NFL Draft), blew past starting left tackle Mason Cole and leveled Michigan quarterback Jake Rudock, a fifth-year senior transfer from Iowa. When the dust cleared, Rudock lay motionless on the field, concussed and with a broken collarbone.
With his relatively reliable fifth-year senior game manager out, and Houston transfer John O’Korn ineligible to play, Harbaugh was forced to turn to backup Shane Morris. Wolverine fans quickly learned why Harbaugh had decided to roll with the underwhelming but otherwise steady Rudock. Morris went on to throw three interceptions (one for a touchdown) and lost a fumble on a muffed exchange with his center. At the same time, Michigan State’s theretofore beleaguered run defense found its stride, and held the Wolverines to 127 yards rushing, well below their then-season average.
On the other side of the ball, Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook (now of the Chicago Bears, having been taken 9th overall) reminded the nation why he had been a regular on preseason Heisman watch-lists, posting a career high in yards (405) and touchdowns (5). MSU went on to win the game by a final score of 42-13. To Michigan’s credit (and Harbaugh’s), Michigan did recover from the devastating loss to post a respectable 9-3 record, including a loss to arch-rival Ohio State. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, their accomplishment was rewarded with a terrible matchup in the Capital One Bowl against a Georgia team that had underperformed all year, and took out its frustrations on the Wolverines to the tune of 49-10.
For all this, Michigan’s off-season losses would prove far more devastating. Defensive coordinator DJ Durkin, architect of the defense that had propelled Michigan’s season, fresh off winning the Broyles Award as the top assistant in college football, was snatched away by Kentucky when Mark Stoops was hired as the new coach at South Carolina. The defensive line, perhaps the critical element of Michigan’s defensive success in 2015, lost five players to graduation. And O’Korn, having witnessed the destruction visited upon Rudock, opted to retire from football.
Meanwhile, off-the-field concerns began swirling around Harbaugh. Following a bizarre outburst by Harbaugh in his post-game press conference after the loss to Ohio State, in which he called Ohio State coach Urban Meyer “a big meanie,” murmurs began in the Michigan fanbase about whether Harbaugh, so recently hailed as a messianic figure, was really a long-term fit for the program.
In a huge personal blow, Harbaugh’s wife Sarah, upon living through only the first half of a brutal upper-Midwestern winter, announced in mid-January that she would be moving back to the San Francisco Bay area with the couple’s three small children. “I just can’t deal with this,” said Ms. Harbaugh, shivering, as she boarded a private plane at Detroit’s Metro Airport.
Facing the prospect of a second season without his family, with Morris quarterbacking an otherwise still-pedestrian offensive roster, the loss of his defensive coordinator, and a dearth of experience on the defensive side of the ball, one can appreciate why Harbaugh was hard-pressed to turn down Indianapolis and a reunion with Andrew Luck and his promising young supporting offensive cast. When Indianapolis sweetened the deal by offering Harbaugh extensive input on personnel decisions, Harbaugh simply found the offer too good to pass up.
At his introductory press-conference in Indianapolis, when asked why he had abandoned his beloved alma mater after only one season, Harbaugh angrily ground his teeth and stomped for a full minute before replying. “Andrew Luck. Good football player,” before storming off the stage. When Harbaugh was approached for comment regarding this column, on a call arranged through the Colts’ media relations department, all questions were met only with heavy breathing.
So, what can we say when looking back on the past year? Perhaps only this: In the turbulent, violent, and unpredictable world of a game played with an oblong ball and devastating force, only uncertainty is certain. How else would the Michigan Man that only a year ago was universally hailed and adored by the school's fans as the second coming of Bo Schembechler find himself coaching Stanford alumni in Indianapolis?
As Jim Harbaugh prepares for his first game as the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, it’s fair to take a moment and consider how he got here. Only 11 months ago, Harbaugh was riding high midway through his inaugural year as the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines. Having taken over a program rich with tradition but woefully lacking in on-the-field success, Harbaugh was hailed as a messianic figure long before his team took the field. After looking fairly pedestrian in an opening week loss to eventual playoff-participant Utah, Michigan rolled to five straight victories behind a stifling run defense and improving power run game.
So suffocating was Michigan’s defense at the time, that the Wolverines carried a streak of three consecutive shutouts into their week seven home matchup with in-state rival Michigan State. What had been a media obsession turned into a feeding frenzy. Euphoric Michigan fans declared that order had been restored. Both Vegas oddsmakers and talking heads predicted a comfortable Michigan victory. All that was left was to play the game.
Then they played the game. Or rather, Michigan State played the game, anyway. Michigan State won the toss and deferred. On Michigan’s first play from scrimmage, MSU’s Shilique Calhoun (an eventual first-round pick of the New York Jets in this April’s NFL Draft), blew past starting left tackle Mason Cole and leveled Michigan quarterback Jake Rudock, a fifth-year senior transfer from Iowa. When the dust cleared, Rudock lay motionless on the field, concussed and with a broken collarbone.
With his relatively reliable fifth-year senior game manager out, and Houston transfer John O’Korn ineligible to play, Harbaugh was forced to turn to backup Shane Morris. Wolverine fans quickly learned why Harbaugh had decided to roll with the underwhelming but otherwise steady Rudock. Morris went on to throw three interceptions (one for a touchdown) and lost a fumble on a muffed exchange with his center. At the same time, Michigan State’s theretofore beleaguered run defense found its stride, and held the Wolverines to 127 yards rushing, well below their then-season average.
On the other side of the ball, Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook (now of the Chicago Bears, having been taken 9th overall) reminded the nation why he had been a regular on preseason Heisman watch-lists, posting a career high in yards (405) and touchdowns (5). MSU went on to win the game by a final score of 42-13. To Michigan’s credit (and Harbaugh’s), Michigan did recover from the devastating loss to post a respectable 9-3 record, including a loss to arch-rival Ohio State. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, their accomplishment was rewarded with a terrible matchup in the Capital One Bowl against a Georgia team that had underperformed all year, and took out its frustrations on the Wolverines to the tune of 49-10.
For all this, Michigan’s off-season losses would prove far more devastating. Defensive coordinator DJ Durkin, architect of the defense that had propelled Michigan’s season, fresh off winning the Broyles Award as the top assistant in college football, was snatched away by Kentucky when Mark Stoops was hired as the new coach at South Carolina. The defensive line, perhaps the critical element of Michigan’s defensive success in 2015, lost five players to graduation. And O’Korn, having witnessed the destruction visited upon Rudock, opted to retire from football.
Meanwhile, off-the-field concerns began swirling around Harbaugh. Following a bizarre outburst by Harbaugh in his post-game press conference after the loss to Ohio State, in which he called Ohio State coach Urban Meyer “a big meanie,” murmurs began in the Michigan fanbase about whether Harbaugh, so recently hailed as a messianic figure, was really a long-term fit for the program.
In a huge personal blow, Harbaugh’s wife Sarah, upon living through only the first half of a brutal upper-Midwestern winter, announced in mid-January that she would be moving back to the San Francisco Bay area with the couple’s three small children. “I just can’t deal with this,” said Ms. Harbaugh, shivering, as she boarded a private plane at Detroit’s Metro Airport.
Facing the prospect of a second season without his family, with Morris quarterbacking an otherwise still-pedestrian offensive roster, the loss of his defensive coordinator, and a dearth of experience on the defensive side of the ball, one can appreciate why Harbaugh was hard-pressed to turn down Indianapolis and a reunion with Andrew Luck and his promising young supporting offensive cast. When Indianapolis sweetened the deal by offering Harbaugh extensive input on personnel decisions, Harbaugh simply found the offer too good to pass up.
At his introductory press-conference in Indianapolis, when asked why he had abandoned his beloved alma mater after only one season, Harbaugh angrily ground his teeth and stomped for a full minute before replying. “Andrew Luck. Good football player,” before storming off the stage. When Harbaugh was approached for comment regarding this column, on a call arranged through the Colts’ media relations department, all questions were met only with heavy breathing.
So, what can we say when looking back on the past year? Perhaps only this: In the turbulent, violent, and unpredictable world of a game played with an oblong ball and devastating force, only uncertainty is certain. How else would the Michigan Man that only a year ago was universally hailed and adored by the school's fans as the second coming of Bo Schembechler find himself coaching Stanford alumni in Indianapolis?
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